


it will be good

by lilaliacs



Category: Produce 101 (TV), Wanna One (Band)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Alternate Universe - Police, M/M, brooklyn 99 au, theres a dog
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-11-25
Updated: 2017-11-25
Packaged: 2019-02-06 17:24:59
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,437
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12822411
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lilaliacs/pseuds/lilaliacs
Summary: Woojin’s least favourite part about his job was Park Jihoon.or:two dumb guys are dumb, there's a dog and flashbacks





	it will be good

**Author's Note:**

> very loosly based on s3e1o of brooklyn 99 only with less drama and christmas, more dogs and dumb dudes and tamagotchis

When he was 4 years old, Woojin’s kindergarten teacher had made her class draw themselves in the future, doing their dream job. Woojin had been very busy colouring a siren when his teacher had passed his desk. 

“Woojinie, you wanna be a police officer?” 

He’d nodded and she’d smiled: “Why’s that?” 

“They get shiny badges and cool sunglasses.” He had reasoned. That was enough to appeal a job to a four year old. Little had the tiny child version of himself known that Adult-Woojin’s favourite thing about his job wouldn’t be his shiny badge and his cool sunglasses. (The badge lost its thrill after a while, sunglasses could only be worn when it was sunny. Currently it was a rainy day mid-September.) 

Woojin’s favourite part about his job was the dog. 

Uma was a very old and very cuddly Newfoundland that had been living in the precinct longer than Woojin had worked there. She had been what Daniel had once referred to as his ‘paw-tner’, which everyone had ignored in favour of respecting their Sergeant. Along with it they had ignored that the dog’s full name was ‘Uma Furman’. 

Uma had been supposed to get retired around the same time as Daniel had been promoted to Sergeant and put in charge of their precinct, and back then he had talked whoever had been in charge of retired police dogs into giving him full custody over Uma - that was how they ended up at the precinct together. It was one of the first things Woojin had been told about his new superior officer when he started there, and from that moment on he had known that he would respect the Sergeant, no matter what. 

The Sergeant however, made the whole ‘respecting him’ thing quite hard. On their first meeting he’d told Woojin to just call him by his first name ( “Or just ‘Dan’, whatever you prefer.”), showed him a few tricks he had taught Uma and had started laughing loudly when the dog had rested her massive head right in Woojin’s lap and had refused to move away. From that moment on Woojin had known that he loved his new Sergeant, but most importantly he loved the dog. 

Uma was usually laying in her favourite spot, under the desk in front of Captain Yoon’s office. Woojin thought it was probably her favourite spot because she had a good view on the whole rest of the precinct from there and because the Captain gave her a treat nearly every time he passed her to get from and to his office. Also she simply adored the Captain’s assistant, the occupant of the desk, even though Woojin couldn’t tell why. 

Woojin’s least favourite part about his job was Park Jihoon. 

It wasn’t like Jihoon had ever done anything to him. He just couldn’t comprehend for the life of him why the Captain kept him around as an assistant, when all Woojin ever saw him do was make snarky comments at the detectives, type away on his phone or, on a whole of three occasions Woojin had witnessed in the past month, flirt with perps. 

Alas, Captain Yoon had as soft a spot for Jihoon as he had for his whole team, so even if Woojin would want to get Jihoon fired (Which, getting down to it, he didn’t. He was annoyed, not a terrible human being), it was probably not in his power. 

“Not that Jisung would fire any of us, but if he would, why would it be Jihoon?” Daehwi had once asked him. 

Seeing as Daehwi had been the latest addition to the precinct, he’d been here for roughly 3 months, Woojin had no idea how he had gotten on a first name basis with the Captain. He suspected that either Daehwi was just that crazily charming, or he simply did not care for honorifics and just assumed he was on a first name basis with anyone until he was told otherwise. Daniel wouldn't tell him otherwise and Captain Yoon was probably too nice to do that, even if he wanted to. 

Woojin also had no idea why he seemed to be the only one on this team who had a problem with Jihoon. Daehwi probably spent more time in the precinct rolling his chair over to Jihoon’s desk and talking to him than on his own desk across from Woojin’s. Daniel and Jihoon were friendly enough that Daniel usually offered to drive the younger home since their apartments were only a block away from each other. Jisung put basically the planning of his whole work-life into Jihoon’s incapable hands. The rest of the team seemed to find him pretty likable. 

Nobody was on Woojin’s page here, so he had just shrugged at Daehwi’s question, made a noncommittal noise and went back to work. That was how most conversations about Jihoon ended.. 

***

“It’s getting pretty cold, huh?” 

Woojin hadn’t noticed Youngmin walking up behind him, he had been going through old files and transferring some missing data to his computer. He would have liked to get this done before the end of his shift, and when he only gave a vaguely confirming hum as a response he was meaning to signal precisely that to Youngmin, but the other either didn’t get it, or didn’t care. 

“So it was definitely a good idea to buy Donghyun a scarf, right?” 

That made Woojin stop mid-typing and turn around. “Why would you buy Donghyun a scarf?” 

“Because that’s what you do when it’s your friend’s birthday? Buy presents? A scarf is fine right? It’s not too impersonal? I got it in red, he looks great in re-” 

Woojin interrupted him: “Why would you buy Donghyun a birthday present _today_?” 

Youngmin blinked at him. “Because...His birthday is tomorrow?” Realization seemed to hit him after a few more blinks. “Oh my god, Woojin, don’t tell me you forgot it was his birthday.” 

“...I did not forget it was his birthday.” Woojin said slowly, while side-eyeing the calendar on Daehwi’s desk. September 16th. 

“Fuck.” He muttered under his breath and Youngmin’s face fell. 

“Woojin!” 

Woojin held up both of his hands in defence. “How should I have known?! I have no concept of time, Youngmin! You could’ve asked me when June 24th was and I probably would have said ‘yesterday’!” 

“That’s no excuse to forget your best friend’s birthday.” Youngmin looked honestly crestfallen. 

“Only because you have never forgotten a single thing in your entire life doesn’t mean you can go around memory-shaming everyone else, Youngmin.” 

“I can’t believe you.” 

“I can…” Woojin murmured quietly, not really intending for Youngmin to hear. 

“What was that?” Of course Youngmin heard. 

“I forgot his birthday last year too.” Woojin added, voice even smaller than before because if the first sentence hadn’t been intended to be heard by Youngmin, the second wasn’t _supposed_ to be heard by him, for the good of the whole precinct. 

“So, you’re telling me-” The older man clasped his hands together while he recapped. “That you forgot the birthday of your best friend- One of the sweetest and nicest and best people in your entire life- You forgot his birthday. Two years in a row.” 

Woojin felt like he was being scolded. Youngmin would bust out an ‘I’m Not Mad, I’m Just Disappointed’ any second now. 

“You don’t have a present. You get off your shift in 30 minutes and by then it’ll be only another 30 minutes until most shops in the area close. That’s what’s happening here, yes?” 

Woojin nodded. He kind of hoped for Youngmin to provide him with an endlessly wise piece of advice any second now. 

“Well, you’re kind of fucked, buddy.” Youngmin shrugged, patted his shoulder once and then went off to the break room without another word. So much for wisdom. 

Woojin put his head down on the table and released a small groan. He was a terrible best friend to have, that wasn't news to him. Sometimes he wished that Donghyun would just finally open his eyes and leave him in the dirt as the major fuck-up he was. But he knew that wouldn’t happen because, as Youngmin so correctly put it, Donghyun was the sweetest and nicest and best person in his life. Also who would he leave him in the dirt for? Youngmin? That would pose as quite the problematic alternative seeing as Donghyun was undyingly in love with Youngmin. It would just be awkward.

So Woojin and his terrible brain and his terrible best-friend-mannerisms it was. 

What bugged him most about this was that Donghyun would pretend that it wouldn’t bother him. He’d laugh it off and make a weird joke no one understood and move on. And hell, what did Woojin know?! Maybe it really did not bother him because Donghyun hadn’t held one grudge in his life. Woojin on the other hand had held a lot of grudges in his life, but the one he would hold on himself if he fucked this up would by far be the greatest of them all. So he didn’t want to fuck it up. But as Youngmin had so helpfully pointed out before, there was close to no way he would not colossally fuck this up. 

“I can literally hear the rusty wheels in your brain turning all the way from my desk. It’s making Uma nervous, you should stop.” 

Jihoon standing right next to his desk definitely was not the first step in the direction of not fucking up. It was, however, an effective way to stop his brain wheels turning. Even though Woojin had to object that they were definitely not rusty. He was a detective, rusty brain wheels would mean a big problem. Jihoon however, was not a detective, he was a personal assistant who liked to sprew unauthorised comments and play pointless games on his phone. Maybe _Jihoon’s_ wheels were rusty, maybe that's what he had been hearing. 

That’s what Woojin thought. What he said out loud was: “Uma looks fine to me.” 

She was silently snoring in her usual spot, as she had been for about 2 hours. 

“She does, doesn’t she?” Jihoon looked at her fondly for a second and chuckled. He then dropped the chipper demeanor immediately and turned back to Woojin. “You don’t though.” 

One of the (many) things that bothered Woojin about Park Jihoon: He couldn’t read him. 

It was Woojin’s job to read people and situations, more or less. His brain and his initial intuitions usually never betrayed him looking at leads and cases, but looking at Jihoon, his brain came up empty. Jihoon on the other hand though could apparently read him like a book. 

_Jihoon wasn’t even a detective._

“I’m totally fine. Just, you know, finishing up these files. Kinda wanna get it done before my shift is over.” Woojin said. _Get lost_ , he thought. 

“So you can run and buy a last-minute birthday present?” 

Of course. Of course this wasn’t just a random conversation. Jihoon was here to mock him. 

Woojin sighed. “Yes. Precisely that. So if you could please leave me to finish this, that would be great.” He was sure the sarcastic smile he sent should have gotten the message across, but Jihoon, instead of retreating to where he couldn’t be annoying, leaned forward closer into Woojin’s personal space. 

“Okay, so finish it and then we’re doing this.” 

_What?_

“Uhh... ‘we’?” 

Jihoon didn’t seem to see anything wrong with his statement. “Yeah. We. You and me. Us two.” 

“We’re doing what exactly?” 

He had the audacity to laugh. “Buy a birthday present. What else?” 

“Oh, right.” Woojin couldn't help but roll his eyes. “You’re gonna join me on finding a present for Donghyun because that’s our thing, that’s what we do, we help each other out, all the time, how could I ever have questioned-” 

“Listen.” Jihoon looked aggravatingly calm when he held up a hand to interrupt Woojin. “I know we have our differences, but I’m not doing this for you. You can let go of that ego-boost right now. I’m doing this for Donghyun.” 

Another thing that annoyed Woojin about Jihoon: Just as Jihoon had never done anything to Woojin, Woojin had never done anything to Jihoon. Yet they both knew of their unspoken treaty of dislike and mistrust and abided to it like a law. But that was the point, neither of them really had any real reason to dislike the other, and yet Jihoon just took that dynamic and ran with it. He just copied Woojin’s whole attitude to the matter. Unbelievable. 

Jihoon continued: “Donghyun is wonderful, and he deserves a wonderful present. You and me both know you’re not gonna get him anything even remotely wonderful if we’re leaving this to you alone. Thus, I’m coming with you.” 

Woojin scoffed at Jihoon’s use of ‘thus’. Who did he think he was? Shakespeare? 

His mouth was already open to give a no doubt brilliant comeback, when they were interrupted by a call from the elevator doors. 

“You guys won’t _believe_ what just happened!” 

That was Donghyun’s usual way to enter a room. No hello, no waves or handshakes, just a wide smile and a no doubt entertaining story. It got awkward in official meetings sometimes. 

They never got to hear what they wouldn't believe had happened, because instead of telling them when he reached Woojin’s desk, Donghyun said: “Oh, sorry for the interruption. What were you guys talking about?” 

“Evening plans.” Jihoon smiled and Woojin had a vague feeling of wanting him to shut up. But he always had that. 

“What are your plans?” 

“We’re going shopping.” Jihoon’s smile was a grin now and Woojin definitely wanted him to shut up. 

“...Together?” 

It was a reasonable question. Woojin thought the last time Jihoon and him had been out and about doing something without anyone else from the precinct involved, it had been Youngmin’s birthday the year before, or alternatively, the eventful precinct Christmas party. Donghyun knew not to bring up the party and more precisely the happenings of said party with Woojin around, but even then Woojin knew that he was thinking of exactly that night. 

“Yeah, I’m helping Woojin out with something.” 

Woojin barely avoided physically cringing when Jihoon looped and arm conspiratorially around his shoulders as he said it. Donghyun noticed and did what he did best: attempt to save Woojin from all of life’s fuck ups that were thrown his way. 

“You know what, Jihoon? It’s been a long day for you, right? You can just go home after work, I’ll take on Woojin-sitting for you.” 

He smiled warmly at them, but it immediately fell when it was Woojin himself who sighed and shook his head. “It’s alright, I’ll go with Jihoon.” 

He didn’t have another choice here. _For Donghyun_ , he thought and he could feel the wicked grin on Jihoon’s face without even looking up. Donghyun looked between the two of them for a moment, then vehemently shook his head. 

“Absolutely not. I’m coming with you guys.” 

“What? No, you really don’t have to-” 

“Woojin.” Donghyun put on his ‘I’m your best friend and I know better what’s good for you than you do so shut your mouth’ face. “You two will literally kill each other when left alone. I’m just sparing everyone a lot of paperwork and me a lot of nerves.” 

“Okay, but-” 

“No buts. See you two after work!” 

And with that he hurried off, into Captain Yoon’s office. Maybe he was gonna tell the Captain whatever unbelievable thing had happened to him before he had come up to the precinct. 

Woojin let his head fall back to the table as Jihoon finally took away his arm from around him. A second later Woojin could feel Jihoon’s hand on him again though, patting the top of his head. 

“There, there.” He said and Woojin would have liked to slap his hand away, because he _knew_ that Jihoon was secretly enjoying this. The only reason Jihoon was probably coming along for was to see Woojin suffer. 

And Woojin definitely would suffer, that much was sure. 

***

“What are we looking for exactly anyways?” Donghyun directed at Woojin while looking around the aisle they were in. 

“Uhm.” 

Woojin had been trying to think of something to get Donghyun the entire time now and none of the ideas he’s had seemed worthy. 

“Woojin needs a present for his sister” Jihoon provided from where he was crouched in front of some scented candles. 

Woojin didn’t know how Jihoon knew he had a sister, but he gladly joined in on the story. “Yes. Yerim has… this thing and I wanted to get something for her because of it.” Donghyun was used to Woojin being vague about everything, he wouldn’t ask questions.  
“That’s so sweet of you!” Donghyun smiled. He then resumed to list things he thought Woojin’s sister would love. That was his main problem here, usually it was Donghyun who came up with each and every gift that Woojin got for anyone. He couldn’t consult him about his own gift right now though. 

“Hey, Donghyun?” Jihoon suddenly chimed in again. “Can you come here real quick and help me decide if this candle smells like vanilla or just vomit, I really can’t tell.” 

While Donghyun turned to hurry towards the shelf Jihoon was pointing at, Jihoon discreetly gestured for Woojin to make a break for it. 

It took Woojin a second to realize that Jihoon was helping him again, for the second time in 5 minutes. Either he just had to cross off his good task of the day or he had an ulterior motive with this and Woojin couldn’t decide which option unsettled him more. He decided to worry about it later and started to quickly make his way to the next aisle. He had an agenda here today. 

The next aisle held baking supplies. The last time Donghyun had attempted to use his oven it had ended in collective food poisoning, so Woojin thought that this was definitely no possibility. He walked into the next aisle. 

_These aisles are way too long_. He thought. 

His mind ventured back to Jihoon and Donghyun a few rows over. Jihoon really had been helping him, huh? When had been the last time that had happened? Had it even happened before? 

It had, he remembered. And with that realization came the memory of that entire evening. 

***

_“C’mon.” Daniel grinned. “C’mooon.”_

_Woojin liked Daniel, he really did, and he would never intentionally disrespect him intentionally in any way, but a drunk Daniel was one of the worst things he’d ever had to deal with._

_Daniel started nudging Woojin’s shoulder with his own in a weird rhythm and didn’t seem to plan to stop any time soon. “Tell meee.”_

_“There’s nothing to tell, Daniel.” Woojin sighed for what felt like the 100th time since Daniel had had his 7th drink, about half an hour ago._

_“Oh, he definitely has something to tell.”_

_Woojin was glaring before he’d even turned to look at Jihoon, while Daniel gave him a wide grin._

_“See, Jihoonie knows what’s up!”_

_“Jihoonie knows nothing” Woojin growled. Jihoonie was definitely not there to help him in any way, he was just here to see Woojin suffer and possibly to laugh at the clingy puppy dog their Sergeant became when intoxicated. Most likely both at once. Jihoon excelled at multitasking._

_“Aw, I didn’t know we did pet names, Jin!”_

_If Daniel hadn’t had Woojin’s arm in a vice grip, Woojin would probably have tried to chuck his drink right into Jihoon’s grinning face._

_“We’re not talking about pet names” Daniel reminded them. “We’re talking about Woojin not following his Sergeant’s orders!”_

_“Daniel you’re too wasted to walk a straight line and we’re at a party. You’re not my Sergeant right now, you’re my very drunk friend who I’ll probably have to take home later to make sure you won’t accidentally take the wrong subway and drive to New Jersey”_

_Jihoon didn’t seem to care for that logic. He sat down on Daniel’s other side and asked: “What were the orders that he ignored?”_

_Daniel conspiratorially leaned over to Jihoon and whispered so loudly that Jaehwan and Sungwoon on the other side of the room could probably hear him: “He won’t answer my very important question.”_

_Jihoon fake gasped. It kind of reminded Woojin of the way his sister would sometimes talk to her more annoying kindergarteners. Other adults understood that the interest maybe wasn’t entirely sincere, but children just revelled in the attention._

_“So he’s basically withholding information from the police” Jihoon pointed out._

_“Yes!” Daniel was so excited about this revelation that he nearly hit Jihoon with the bottle he was holding. Jihoon swiftly avoided his wild gestures. “That’s basically a felony, Woojin!” He pulled on Woojin’s arm that he was still attached to._

_Daniel tended to forget his own strength after a few drinks, which could possibly mean that Woojin himself maybe wouldn't be attached to his arm for much longer if Daniel proceeded to pull at it. He had accepted his fate at this point._

_“You know, you should go and tell Jisung about it. Right now.” Jihoon pointed towards the door to the next room. “I think I saw him over there getting cake.”_

_“Ohh, cake” Daniel mused. He slowly let go of Woojin’s arm (it tingled as blood circulation returned to it) and then shakily got to his feet._

_“10 bucks say he’ll have forgotten what he was about to tell Jisung by the time he reaches the door” Jihoon murmured. Woojin wasn’t sure it was aimed at him, he didn’t think Jihoon and him were at a point in their relationship where making casual joking bets was on the agenda. But also Jihoon’s eyes were kind of glassy and his cheeks were slightly rosier than usual. Maybe with added alcohol they reached the bet making stage._

_Jihoon leaned on Woojin’s shoulder and took a swig from the bottle he was holding, before asking: “So what didn’t you wanna tell him?”_

_When Woojin just stared at him in silence, he added: “You kinda owe me for getting him off your back, you know?”_

_“Maybe I didn’t want him off my back” Woojin retorted. “He’s good company, you know?” (‘Unlike you, please get lost’, he thought.)_

_And Jihoon did what every grown man who didn’t get his way would do. He pouted._

_The saddest thing, Woojin thought to himself as he sighed, was that this wasn’t only a drunk thing Jihoon did. He didn’t think he’d seen anyone over the age of 5 pout as much in his whole life as he sometimes saw Jihoon pout in one day. Usually he’d just roll his eyes and go on with his life, but right now, Jihoon’s jutted out lower lip kind of got to him._

_He blamed it on the alcohol, when he sighed again and said: “He randomly came up to me and asked who in the precinct I thought was the hottest.” It sounded weird out loud, so he added: “I think he had an argument about it with Ong from the 92.”_

_He didn’t know how that piece of information made anything less weird, but he’d tried and that’s what counted._

_“Oh, Seongwoo is here?” Jihoon perked up._

_‘Yes he is, please get up right now to look for him and leave me alone.’, Woojin’s inner monologue answered._

_“Yeah, he’s around somewhere. His partner too. Minhyun?”_

_Jihoon, sadly, didn't immediately get up to look for Seongwoo or Minhyun but instead just nodded to himself and scanned the crowd around them._

_Woojin knew about half of the people gathered in Youngmin’s living room well, the other half he was at least acquaintanced with or had heard of before. He wondered if Youngmin didn’t have any friends that weren’t from work or of he just didn’t invite them to this party because it usually doubled as their precincts Christmas party._

_“It’s a tie.” Jihoon suddenly spoke up again._

_“Huh?”_

_“A tie” He repeated when he saw the probably confused look on Woojin’s face. “For hottest person at the precinct.”_

_Woojin rolled his eyes. He really hadn’t intended to talk about this subject with Jihoon of all people. But he guessed he could humour him for once. It was probably the alcohol._

_“Between you and?” He thought it out of question that Jihoon would pick anyone that wasn’t himself. If he hadn’t been so annoyed by it, he would have been envious of Jihoon’s confidence._

_“You think I’m hot?” Jihoon grinned._

_“What? I didn’t say that, I meant-”_

_“You.”_

_“Huh?”_

_“It’s a tie between me and you.”_

_The words taken a few moments too long to register in Woojin’s brain and by the time they did Jihoon had gotten up and left. Woojin blamed the alcohol and the dim lighting of the room when he thought he’d seen Jihoon wink at him as he left._

***

The next aisle held toys. Woojin had to resist the urge to press everything that had a bright yellow ‘Try Me!’ sticker on it and instead proceed to the next aisle. The next aisle, he hoped, would hold something that was suitable to buy for an adult for his birthday. He would not buy Donghyun a toy meant for children. 

His resolve crumbled when he passed a display of miniature police cars. They were tiny and blue and completely unnecessary for Donghyun to have but at the same time Woojin thought that they were definitely something Donghyun should have. 

He picked up one of them and slowly pushed it across the miniature street it was displayed on. 

“I can’t believe I give you the perfect and once in a lifetime opportunity to go and be productive for once in your life, and you go and play with the micro version of a car that’s literally part of your job.” Jihoon had his hands buried in the pockets of his sweater as he walked along the aisle towards Woojin. 

“Why are you here?” Woojin asked, maybe a bit frantically. “Where’s Donghyun?” 

He sucked at lying he wouldn’t be able to come up with a reason as to why he was in the toys aisle when looking for a present for his grown-up sister. Yerim would definitely not enjoy miniature police cars. Donghyun knew that. 

“Relax.” Jihoon chuckled. “He’s very immersed in a conversation with an employee about scented candles. Maybe you should get him a scented candle.” 

“He has way too many of those already.” 

“Woojin. Pal. You can never have enough scented candles.” 

Woojin shook his head. “If you think that, you haven’t spent enough time in Donghyun’s apartment. I think my ability to smell is nearly non-existent by now.” 

Jihoon crouched down to look at a box of retro Tamagotchis. He picked one up. “Well, you’re lucky that you don’t need your nose on the job then.” The device in his hand made a weird high pitched noise and he smiled. “That’s what you have Uma for.” 

“Uma is retired.” Woojin reminded him, while he crouched down next to him. “I didn’t know they still produced these things.” 

“It’s amazing, I’m tempted to buy one just for the hell of it.” 

Woojin picked up a bright pink one with a picture of some animal on it that looked like a rabbit or a cat or a mouse or something just as adorable. “Buy this one.” He said. 

“What makes that one better than all the other ones?” Jihoon raised an eyebrow. He seemed kind of offended by Woojin picking favourites among the Tamagotchis. 

Woojin shrugged. “It looks like you’d enjoy it?” 

“It does.” Jihoon agreed. But next to the agreement there was surprise and Woojin could understand why, if he was honest. It was weird that he had seen this plastic contraption and had immediately associated it with Jihoon. That’s what friends did, and they weren’t friends. 

“What are you guys doing down there? Woojin are you buying Yerim a Tamagotchi?” 

Donghyun’s knowledgeable discussion about scented candles had apparently ran out and so had Woojin’s perfect and once in a lifetime opportunity to get him a present. 

Donghyun was still expecting an answer, so Woojin intelligently said: “Uhm.” 

He thought that Jihoon could maybe come up with something again but Jihoon already saved his ass once tonight and it went against Woojin’s pride to let him do it again. 

“Yeah!” He exclaimed before either Jihoon or Donghyun were faster. “She loved those as a kid, I thought it would be funny.” 

“It’s sweet!” Donghyun agreed, ever the enthusiast. From the corner of his eye Woojin could see Jihoon discreetly slap a hand to his face. 

“Are you done then?” Donghyun continued. “The shop is closing super soon.” 

“Uhm.” Woojin said again. There was no way he could talk more time into existence. He was pretty sure he’d fucked up. “Yeah, I’m basically done.” 

“Are you?” Jihoon lifted an eyebrow. 

_Of course not, asshole._ Woojin thought. _You know I’m not._

“Yeah.”He repeated out loud. 

“Great, let’s go then!” Donghyun was already making his way in the direction of the registers. 

Woojin had definitely fucked up. 

***

Woojin hadn’t spoken to Donghyun yet, why, he didn’t know himself. Usually he would call or text but this morning the realization that he was a terrible best friend had kept him from doing that. Which made him an even worse best friend. He didn’t even make an effort to congratulate Donghyun on his birthday! 

Donghyun probably thought Woojin had forgotten again. And he wouldn’t even be entirely wrong. And Woojin still didn’t have a present. So really, if today was the day Donghyun decided he’d had enough of Woojin’s shit, he wouldn’t blame him. 

Woojin was snapped out of his over-thinking when something was placed directly in front of where his head was resting on his desk. 

“Just your luck that Donghyun always comes in a bit later, huh?” 

He sat up and blinked at Jihoon in confusion but Jihoon paid him no mind as he continued: “And just your luck that I actually like Donghyun and am saving your sorry ass.” 

He gestured towards the pastel coloured gift bag he had placed in front of Woojin. A look inside told him it was a small assortment of scented candles as well as a fancy colourful box of mini-cupcakes and a little envelope that looked like a giftcard. 

“I figured you would be wallowing in self-pity too much, so I went and took measures into my own hands. That card just says it’s for a dinner wherever that you’re gonna pay for. You’re welcome.” 

Jihoon crouched down to pet Uma who had hurried over to Woojin’s desk when Jihoon hadn’t made his usual way to his own to greet her. “I’m such a nice guy, Uma, sometimes I’m amazed by myself.” He told her while she attempted to crawl into his lap.  
Uma was way too big to fit into anyone’s lap, but she didn’t understand that so only a moment later she had pushed Jihoon to the ground and had laid down on top of him completely. 

Woojin was still caught off-guard and just stared down at Jihoon, now buried under a mass of fuzzy fur. 

“A lil’ help?” Jihoon sounded like he was suffocating. He probably was. 

With a click of his tongue, Woojin tried to get the dog’s attention. “Uma, come here.” 

He clapped his hand and Uma started moving. Jihoon groaned when she got up by pushing off his stomach and stayed on the ground while she ventured over to Woojin with her tail wagging. 

“Good girl.” Woojin cooed, barely suppressing a laugh and pet her head. Only a second later, Captain Yoon opened the door to his office and Uma excitedly hurried off to greet him. (The Captain wasn’t so stupid as to crouch down and let her attempt to murder him in the same way she did Jihoon.) 

Woojin was still grinning when he asked: “You good down there?” 

When he got only a glare back, he chuckled and got out of his seat, offering a hand to pull Jihoon up. Jihoon accepted it and as soon as he was standing, he sent a fond look over at Uma. 

“I know she just attempted to murder me, but I love her.” 

“Damn, sounds like a pretty toxic relationship.” 

“You sound like a pretty toxic relationship.” Jihoon shot back. 

“How old are you?” Woojin deadpanned. “Twelve?” 

Jihoon rolled his eyes, but grinned. When Woojin returned it he thought that this was probably the longest more or less normal conversation he and Jihoon had had in weeks. Then his eyes fell at the bag on his desk and he thought that this was probably the nicest thing Jihoon had done for him since they knew each other. 

“Hey.” He started. His pride was revolting in his chest but he didn’t want to just not thank Jihoon for quite literally saving his ass. “Thank you, you know, for-” 

“Don’t hurt yourself.” Jihoon interrupted him. “You’re welcome and you owe me.” After a moment of consideration, he added: “Even though I did this for Donghyun. And speaking of the devil here he comes- Good morning birthday boy!” 

He had yelled the last part across the precinct and Donghyun came over with a wide smile. “I’m an adult, Jihoon.” He said, even though Woojin knew he didn’t actually mind being called “birthday boy”. Donghyun thrived in the attention. 

“Birthday man, then.” Jihoon grinned then clapped his hands: “So do you want some presents or what?” 

***

“You know how I saved your ass?” 

“It was about three hours ago, did you expect me to have forgotten it?” 

Jihoon thought for a second, then shrugged. “Kinda.” 

“Asshole.” Woojin gave back, but there was no malice behind it. “Why?” 

“You owe me.” 

“I’m aware.” 

“I have the perfect way for you to pay your debt.” Jihoon had a wide grin on his lips and Woojin didn’t trust it. 

Before he could ask for more clarification though, Daehwi interrupted them. “I’m gonna stop you right there so I can leave, this whole paying off debt business doesn’t sound like it’s meant for my innocent ears.” 

“That’s not what I meant!” Jihoon called after him. 

“It’s what it sounded like! No judgement! That’s your personal life and all that jazz I just don’t want to hear it!” Daehwi yelled back. 

Now that everyone including the perp at Youngmin’s desk had probably caught onto the weirdly sexual subtext Daehwi had forced on their conversation, Jihoon turned back to Woojin as if nothing happened. “Anyways I have something for you to do.” 

Woojin hoped that his cheeks didn’t look as warm as they felt. “And what’s that?” 

“Blow me in the breakroom.” Jihoon shot back. 

Woojin spluttered. His cheeks definitely looked as warm as they felt now. Jihoon didn’t seem to feel even slightly bad as he started laughing. “I’m kidding, the look on your face when Daehwi said that just now though was priceless.” 

“Why would you _say_ that?!” Woojin demanded, maybe slightly too loud seeing as the perp at Youngmin’s desk turned to look at the two of them with poorly disguised curiosity. 

“Wanted to see your reaction.” Jihoon shrugged with a grin. “Anyways, I actually had a real suggestion before comedic genius hit me. You know how I lost that bet with Daniel a few weeks ago?” 

The two of them bad bet on one of Jaehwan’s cases, Woojin was pretty sure. Something about a lead turning out useful or not, he thought, but he hadn’t actually paid close attention to it. Whatever it had been exactly, Jihoon had lost and now had to take care of taking Uma out for walks every day around noon. Woojin thought Daniel should have thought of something else, this wasn’t a punishment for Jihoon in the slightest, he loved that dog. 

That was also the reason why he was slightly confused that Jihoon was bringing it up now. “Do you want me to take Uma on her walk today?” 

“Fuck no.” Jihoon hurried to deny. 

“Figured. So what is it?” 

“I want you to join me taking Uma on her walk.” 

Woojin blinked at him. “Why.” He forgot to make it sound like a question in his confusion but Jihoon still answered. 

“Why not?” 

“Because I don’t see how this would make me not owe you anymore?” It was purely objective thinking. Walking around with someone and a dog didn’t check any of the boxes that Woojin would consider for paying back a favour. 

But Jihoon just shrugged again. “I think it’ll be fun.” 

Woojin didn’t trust things that Jihoon thought would be fun. The last time he did that it hadn’t ended well.  
***

 

_Woojin liked Christmas and he liked Youngmin and he usually really liked the Christmas-And-Birthday-Parties at Youngmin’s place, but the more this one went on, the more he despised it. The weird conversation with Jihoon earlier bothered him. What bothered him most was that he couldn’t stop thinking about it._

_It was ridiculous. He didn’t give a damn about what Jihoon thought about him, he never had, and just because Jihoon had more or less implied that he thought Woojin was hot, Woojin would still not give a damn._

_It was all just the alcohol talking, he told himself, still nursing only his second bottle of beer. He hadn’t really drank anything since he started at the 99, he couldn’t hold his liquor anymore as well as he could in college, otherwise he wouldn’t have been sitting here like this. But it had been about an hour now and his mind still kept wandering back to Jihoon winking at him._

_Maybe he should just never drink any alcohol again if it ended like this. He could deal with not drinking if it meant he didn’t have to deal with stupid thoughts about Jihoon._

_“Fancy meeting you here!” Speak of the devil…_

_“You already talked to me today, Jihoon. You knew that I was here, what do you want?”_

_“I have a suggestion.”_

_Jihoon looked down at Woojin where he was sitting. Woojin was kind of glad he had decided to change locations from the living room to the kitchen at one point. It would have seemed weird if he had been sitting in the exact same spot Jihoon had left him in an hour again. Not that he cared about what Jihoon thought seemed weird._

_“A suggestion?” He repeated._

_“A plan. A scheme of sorts.” Jihoon’s tone sounded hushed, like he was letting Woojin in on a secret. Woojin didn’t want to be in on any of Jihoon’s secrets._

_“And you’re telling me this, because…?”_

_“I need an accomplice” Jihoon answered matter of factly. He rolled his eyes like that should have been obvious._

_He wasn’t making any sense right now. Woojin wondered how many colourful cocktails had preceded the one he was holding. Jihoon had already been tipsy an hour ago, after all, it probably didn’t even have a point to talk to him._

_But ignoring him didn’t work, it turned out. Jihoon started obnoxiously tapping his shoulder, until Woojin looked at him again._

_“I need an accomplice.” He repeated. It seemed like he honestly thought Woojin hadn’t heard him the first time. If Woojin hadn’t been so annoyed, he maybe would’ve admitted that it was kind of endearing._

_“And you want me of all people to be your accomplice?” He inquired, raising an eyebrow._

_Jihoon just nodded and didn’t elaborate, so Woojin humoured him and asked on: “Why?”_

_“Because I don’t want to do this alone.”_

_“No” Woojin shook his head. “Why do you want _me_ to help you?” _And not people you actually like and are friends with._ _

_Jihoon looked deep in thought at that, as if he hadn’t actually thought about his motives as well. After a few seconds, he just shrugged. “I think it’ll be fun.”_

_It was a first that either of them chose the descriptor “fun” for anything involving the other. Frankly, it intrigued Woojin. Alcohol or not, whatever Jihoon had in mind had to be _really_ entertaining if he thought he’d enjoy it in Woojin’s company, right? _

_“So what’s this plan of yours?”_

_Jihoon seemed to interpret this as a ‘yes’ because he beamed, when he answered. “I wanna stargaze.”_

_That was not what Woojin had expected out of multiple reasons. For one, they were in New York. There were basically no stars visible when you were in the middle of Manhattan, especially not during an unfriendly winter like this one. Second, if he would’ve had to think of any activity that Jihoon would have wanted to do with him, stargazing would have been very far down that list. Third, the way Jihoon had said it caught him totally off guard. It was like his whole face had lit up as soon as he assumed Woojin agreed to go with him and he seemed really genuinely excited about the concept of stargazing._

_It made Woojin forget his first two concerns for whatever reason. He couldn’t quite believe himself when he slowly got up and gestured for Jihoon to follow through with whatever he had planned. He left his beer on the kitchen counter, he was never drinking again anyways._

_Jihoon didn’t explain anything, just led the way out of the kitchen, out of Youngmin’s apartment, out into the stairwell, up way too many flights of stairs for Woojin’s liking, until they were standing in front of a heavy metal door. Jihoon tried to open it, to no avail. He tried again, harder this time, but it still wouldn't budge. For his third try he threw his whole body weight against it, but all it did was hurt Jihoon, judging from the whining noise he released afterwards._

_“I think it might be locked” Woojin stated. His voice was dripping with sarcasm but Jihoon scrunched up his eyebrows as if he hadn’t considered that possibility before._

_Jihoon was always stupid, but with added intoxication he was reaching completely new levels._

_“I think you might be right” Jihoon allowed, and carefully tried the doorknob again. To no surprise, it still didn’t work, so Jihoon’s next course of action was to crouch down and lean up closely to the lock._

_“What are you gonna do? Stare it into submission?”_

_“No, that’s dumb” Jihoon shot back. Then he reached into his pocket and pulled out a pair of bobby pins._

_“What are you-” Woojin started, even though he suspected he knew what Jihoon was about to do. His suspicion proved right when Jihoon, surprisingly precise, went on to pick the lock of the door to this random apartment complex’ roof. “Have you done this before?”_

_“Shhhh” Jihoon looked up at him with a peculiar little smile. “I can’t tell you” He whispered._

_“Why not?” Woojin whispered back. He wasn’t sure why._

_“Because you’re a cop!” Jihoon answered, then giggled shortly and went back to concentrating on the lock. “There we go!” He cheered suddenly and not even a second later, the metal door creaked open._

_“Wingardium Leviosa” Jihoon grinned up at Woojin._

_“That’s so far from the right context of this spell, what you mean is Aloh-”_

_“Yeah, yeah” Jihoon interrupted him while he got back to his feet. “Aloha or something, whatever makes your nerd-heart happy. C’mon.”_

_“Are you telling me you don’t know ‘Harry Potter’?!” Woojin demanded while following Jihoon out onto the roof. The air was freezing, he was just glad it had stopped snowing that morning._

_“I’m not a nerd like you.” Jihoon slowly walked around the roof, seemingly fascinated with the dents his feet were leaving in the snow. Woojin wondered if he was cold, he only had on a thin sweater and an even thinner flannel on top. Woojin was wearing the warmest jumper he had found earlier and a jacket and he was still freezing._

_“That doesn’t have anything to do with being a nerd” He defended himself. “Who on earth doesn’t know ‘Harry Potter’?!”_

_“I’ve seen one or two movies” Jihoon shrugged. He reached for a bit of snow but immediately pulled back his hand when he actually touched it, like he was surprised that it was cold. Idiot._

_“Aren’t you cold?” Woojin asked._

_“Kinda.” Jihoon shrugged again. “But the _stars_ , Jin!” _

_“There are no stars.” Woojin remembered suddenly. Maybe Jihoon would stop with the ridiculous nicknames if Woojin just ignored them._

_Jihoon looked up, as if he had to confirm that statement for himself. The look on his face told Woojin that that probably was the case. The look on Jihoon’s face when he apparently realized that Woojin was right made him kind of wish he hadn’t said anything._

_Jihoon looked crestfallen. It honestly shouldn't be surprising to him that you couldn’t see the night sky in the middle of New York, but seemingly it was. Woojin didn’t know why he felt bad for it. He didn’t put all the lights in the city after all._

_“It’s freezing” He said, instead of following the initial, stupid urge to apologize. “We should get back inside-”_

_“Why, can’t you take a little cold?”_

_When he looked back at Jihoon, there was a challenge in his eyes and his pulled up eyebrow. Woojin wasn’t about to turn down a challenge, especially not when it came from Jihoon and especially not when Jihoon was this cocky about it. He would show him._

_“I’m good, just worried about you and your delicate health.”_

_“ _Delicate health_ ” Jihoon scoffed, then crossed his arms in front of his chest. “I don’t get sick.” _

_“It’s not even that cold”, Woojin agreed._

They had both caught hypothermia that night and had had to deal with that as well as a whole bunch of other unwelcome memories of later occurrences. Woojin didn’t want to think about it ever again, especially not after it had seemed that Jihoon didn’t even remember, so they both had went on like nothing had happened afterwards. 

Right now, as he found himself remembering that night, it was hard to stop thinking about it. 

It was like his brain didn’t want to stop thinking about and Jihoon wasn’t helping. He had made Woojin take Uma’s leash at one point and was blabbering on about god knows what while wildly gesturing. Suddenly he interrupted himself: “Are you hungry?” 

Woojin hadn’t expected to be brutally ripped out of his memories. “Uh.” 

Jihoon accepted it as an answer. “You must be. It’s lunch-time anyways. C’mon I know this cute place down the street, they allow dogs. Actually I’m not sure if they officially allow dogs but the barista that works there loves Uma and also he loves me so they’re allowing _our_ dog. And they make really good caramel latte, you like those right?” 

It was weird for Woojin that Jihoon was talking to him so much. He wondered if Jihoon originally talked this much and just never had with Woojin or if there was a specific reason why he didn’t shut up right now. He maybe would have asked, or asked how Jihoon knew that he liked caramel-flavoured coffee or just agreed with Jihoon’s suggestion, but Jihoon didn’t let him. He just ventured back into the story he had told before, grabbed Woojin’s wrist that wasn’t occupied with Uma’s leash and pulled them both, man and dog, along the sidewalk. 

“Guanlin!” He called as soon as they entered the small coffee shop. “Uma said she missed you!” 

“I missed her too!” A young man stepped out from behind the counter with a wide grin. Woojin thought it was safe to drop the leash and let Uma go greet him. He would have maybe went after her to introduce himself, but Jihoon was still holding onto his wrist. Woojin threw him a look but only got a slightly confused raise of eyebrows, so he lightly twisted his wrist in Jihoon’s hold. Jihoon had apparently forgotten he had still been holding onto him, because he immediately dropped his fingers and shot Woojin a sheepish smile. It threw Woojin off, as many things Jihoon did that day had. It also threw him off that he thought he saw the slightest blush creep onto Jihoon’s cheeks before he turned away to greet Guanlin. 

“And who’s this?” The barista inquired. 

“That’s Woojin, we work together.” Jihoon introduced. “He’s a cop.” 

“Ohh, you told me about him before!” Guanlin smiled. 

“Oh, did he?” Woojin raised an eyebrow in amusement. 

“No, I didn’t.” Jihoon shook his head. “That was someone else, Guanlin.” 

“Okay” Guanlin looked between the two of them with an unspoken question in his eyes. “Whatever you say.” 

They sat down on one of the tables and Uma settled by their feet. Jihoon ordered ‘his usual’ and Woojin a caramel latte and whatever Guanlin recommended to eat. 

When Guanlin had disappeared behind the counter to get them their order, Jihoon spoke up again: “I come here a lot.” 

“You don’t say?” Woojin joked. 

He expected a snide comeback or a roll of his eyes, but Jihoon just chuckled. “Yeah, it’s kind of obvious, I guess.” 

It was quiet for a short while and Woojin thought again that this was kind of weird. He also thought how annoying it was that even though this situation right now was nothing like the last time they had been alone but it still reminded him of it. He didn’t want to be reminded of it. 

Guanlin brought them their food and he looked like he would have loved to sit down and chat, or to sit down on the floor with Uma, but his boss called for him from the back so he left them alone again. 

“That case you’re working on right now.” Jihoon piped up, suddenly. “Tell me about it.” 

Woojin hadn’t expected Jihoon to be interested in any police work, if he was being honest. For the fact that he worked at a police precinct, Jihoon emphasised a lot how glad he was he wasn’t a cop. But right now he wasn’t clowning Woojin’s job for once, he seemed genuinely invested in what Woojin was telling him and asked questions. Woojin didn’t expect a lot of the things Jihoon did. 

Their conversation ventured to different subjects afterwards, from Woojin’s case to the other people in the precinct, to Youngmin and Donghyun, to the cookies Daehwi had baked for everyone last week, to Jihoon’s weird neighbour, to the annoying bird that lived in the bushes in front of Woojin’s apartment. Woojin hadn’t expected that conversations with Jihoon could be so easy. 

Soon enough, Guanlin had to remind them that they’d been there forever. “Don’t you have jobs to get back to?” He asked. 

“Fuck, you’re right.” Woojin realized. 

Guanlin laughed and put their receipt on the table. “Who’s paying?” 

“Me.” Jihoon spoke up and Woojin raised his eyebrows. 

“What? Why?” He hadn’t expected Jihoon to pay for his food. 

Guanlin chimed in before Jihoon could answer: “It’s fine, just let him pay, you guys are in a hurry. You can pay for the next date, right?” 

“Uh.” Woojin intelligently gave back. He hadn’t expected Guanlin to say that. 

Within a few minutes Jihoon had paid and Guanlin had bid Uma goodbye, then them, and they were stood outside of the café again. Woojin still didn’t know what to think. He thought they would immediately make their way back to the precinct again, since they were already late, but that didn’t seem to be Jihoon’s plan. Woojin gave up on having any expectations anymore. 

“That wasn’t too bad, was it?” Jihoon asked. In any other situation, Woojin would have thought it to be a joke, a slight jab maybe. But Jihoon’s eyes said something else. 

“What was?” Woojin asked. He felt like he didn’t understand the situation entirely even though it shouldn’t be hard. 

“Spending time with me. Talking.” Jihoon said. 

It made Woojin feel like he had something to set right, so he hurried to answer: “It wasn’t! Bad. It wasn’t bad. It was fun.” He didn’t know why it seemed so urgent to him to let Jihoon know. 

Jihoon nodded. “So why didn’t we do it earlier?” He asked. He wasn’t looking at Woojin when he said it, but at Uma’s head. 

Woojin didn’t know what to make out of the question. He didn’t know what Jihoon wanted to hear, but he still wanted to tell him precisely that. When he couldn’t come up with anything and stayed silent for a few seconds, Jihoon looked up. 

Woojin was usually annoyed by how little he could read Jihoon. Right now, he could read each and every emotion as it appeared in Jihoon’s eyes. 

“Why didn’t we do that right after what happened last Christmas?” 

***

_“Uma deserves a christmas present too, Woojin!”_

_“I’m sure Daniel got her something, can we please just go back inside?”_

_“How sure are you?”_

_“Pretty sure. It’s freezing, Jihoon-”_

_“I don’t wanna go back inside.”_

_There was a tiny pout on Jihoon’s lips when he said it, Woojin would have laughed at him maybe, if he hadn’t been busy freezing to his death on a random roof in New York, in the middle of winter._

_“We’ve been out here for about half an hour, it’s not getting warmer and you’re wearing about 500 layers less than you should in these temperatures.” He tried to reason._

_Jihoon broke out into a wide smile. Woojin wondered how he could still do that, he felt like his lips were immovable icicles._

_“Are you worried about me?”_

_“I’m worried about both of us freezing to death for literally no reason at all.”_

_“So you’re worried about me!”_

_“If that means we’ll go back to where it’s warm, sure. I’m worried about you.”_

_Jihoon laughed. “You care about me!”_

_Woojin scrunched up his eyebrows. At least that’s what he intended to do, he couldn’t actually feel if his face was doing it. “Yeah?”_

_He made it sound more like a question than confirmation, but Jihoon chose to ignore it, apparently. He was still laughing while he took the few strides over the snowy roof to where Woojin was standing and apparently the snow and the alcohol in Jihoon’s system didn’t mix up well with his laughter because he stumbled on the last step. Instinctively Woojin brought his hands up to Jihoon’s shoulders to keep him upright and from stumbling to his death or at least a broken nose. “Careful.”_

_Jihoon swayed a little. How much to drink had he actually had?_

_While grabbing a hold around on Woojin’s arms in turn, maybe for stability maybe just because it seemed right to his drunken mind, Jihoon started quietly giggling once again. The prospect of nearly falling didn’t seem to have phased him at all. Woojin didn’t think Jihoon had ever laughed that much around him ever before._

_“Your ears are all red.” Jihoon pointed out between huffs of laughter._

_Woojin nodded. “They’re freezing off.”_

_“It’s cute” Jihoon grinned. “You’re cute.”_

_“And you’re drunk” Woojin gave back, ignoring his heartbeat picking up and the realization of how close they were suddenly. “And it’s far below zero so we’re going to somewhere with a heater right now.”_

_“Are you cold?” The smile dropped from Jihoon’s face and he just looked earnestly concerned._

_“Kinda.” He couldn’t believe they were having this conversation. All he wanted was to not freeze._

_Jihoon let his hands fall from Woojin’s arms but only to put them on his cheeks. “Your face is cold.” He observed, his voice a whisper. It made him sound surprised and some small part of Woojin’s brain honestly wondered if Jihoon was simply not aware of all the snow around them. The bigger part of it was very occupied with Jihoon’s face being as close as it was. Jihoon’s eyes were reflecting christmas lights from the building across the street. Woojin had never been able to read them but right now it was like he could look straight through them, every emotion evident on Jihoon’s face. It was new, and it made him nervous._

_“No shit.” He breathed back. He was suddenly very aware of his hands still on Jihoon’s shoulders and Jihoon’s eyes still on him, still wide with honest concern._

_“Oh, I know!”, Jihoon suddenly exclaimed and something in his eyes sparked. Before Woojin could ask, Jihoon had pulled his face down and Jihoon’s lips were on his, surprisingly warm and surprising in general._

_It was surprising, but it wasn’t as weird as it should have been, kissing Jihoon. Woojin blamed it on the snow. He was very cold and Jihoon’s lips were very warm and if he pulled Jihoon closer a few seconds into the kiss, wrapped his arms around his neck, then that was merely a measure to make sure he would not die in the New York winter._

_Jihoon pulled back after a small eternity, still grabbing on to the front of Woojin’s jacket, one of Woojin’s hands still in his hair. “Better?” He asked, though it only came out as a whisper._

_Woojin couldn’t answer. On the edge of his mind he registered that it had started to snow again at some point in the last few minutes. He leaned back in._

_“I’m taking that as a yes?” Jihoon asked again another handful of minutes later. The breezy laugh was back to his words again._

_“Shut up.” Was Woojin’s first intention to say. “You’re warm.” He added after a few seconds._

_“Maybe we should go inside, it’s warm there?”_

_“I’ve been saying this for the last 20 minutes.”_

_“Shut up.” Jihoon grinned now, then grabbed for his hand and pulled him back towards the metal door._

_Woojin didn’t know what he expected. He knew Jihoon was still slightly drunk and he knew Jihoon was always unpredictable and they just kissed and that made everything even more unpredictable. Maybe he’d expected Jihoon to just drop his hand as soon as they were through the door. What happened on the roof of Youngmin’s apartment complex stayed on the roof of Youngmin’s apartment complex. When that didn’t happen he maybe expected Jihoon to drop his hand when they reached Youngmin’s apartment and disappear into the crowd without him. But what he didn’t expect was for Jihoon to never drop his hand, pull him all the way through the metal door, through the door of Youngmin’s apartment, through the door of Youngmin’s guest bedroom that nobody had been allowed in actually. Woojin was just about to ask where he got the key from, but Jihoon shut him up._

***

“I…” Woojin started. “I thought you forgot about that.” 

Jihoon scoffed. “I wasn’t that drunk.” 

“I know.” Woojin quietly admitted. He wouldn’t have slept with Jihoon if he’d thought the other had been too drunk to make the decision or to remember. When it had seemed like Jihoon had in fact forgotten what had happened the following Monday, Woojin had beat himself up over it for weeks. He’d wanted to apologize, but every time he had gathered the resolve to talk to Jihoon, he’d chickened out right as he’d been faced with him. 

Right now he had to admit he was kind of glad that Jihoon remembered after all, that he had remembered all this time and that he had known what he was doing that night. But he was also confused. “Why didn’t you say anything?” He asked. 

This time Jihoon’s laugh wasn’t a scoff, it was just a weak thing that nearly got lost in the autumn air. He looked down at Uma again. “I was waiting for you to say something. You didn’t.” 

His eyes met Woojin’s again, before he continued: “I _wanted_ to talk to you about it but I always chickened out.” 

Now it was on Woojin to laugh. A real laugh,if short small, because they were pretty ridiculous. “Well, you didn’t chicken out now.” He observed. 

“No shit, Sherlock.” Jihoon rolled his eyes. 

“I _am_ a detective, you know.” 

“You’re stupid is what you are.” Jihoon shot him a tiny pout and Woojin smiled. “But you’re right, I didn’t chicken out now.” Jihoon added. “You should join me and Uma on walks more often.” He continued, quieter. Woojin’s smile widened. 

“Under one condition.” He said. Jihoon looked at him, confusion evident on his face. “Next time, just hold my hand instead of ripping my arm out of its socket while pulling me to your date location of choice.” 

A tiny smile stole its way onto Jihoon’s face. “I can probably do that.” He agreed. Promptly, he grabbed for Woojin’s free hand again and Woojin let him lace their fingers together. 

Slowly they started making their way back to the precinct. Woojin thought he was too old to feel as giddy as he did, but then he caught Jihoon’s glance and the slight blush on his cheeks that mirrored his own he thought that he didn’t care. 

The autumn wind around them picked up as they were halfway back to the precinct, so Woojin opted to bury his and Jihoon’s hand in extension in the pocket of his coat. The back of his hand hit plastic, and he released a small laugh. 

“Hey, Jihoon?” He said, lightly squeezing the other’s hand to get his attention. 

“Hm?” 

“Do you still want that pink Tamagotchi?” 

Jihoon burst out into loud laughter that made Uma in front of them turn around in surprise. “Half the custody over a dog _and_ full custody over a Tamagotchi together? We’ve only just been dating for 5 minutes, Woojin, calm down!” 

Woojin grinned. “Well we kind of have to make up for nearly a year of stupidity.” 

“I suppose you’re right.” Jihoon allowed, a giggle still in his voice. 

***

“Fucking finally!” 

“Language, Sungwoon.” 

“Daniel, you don’t understand, I’ve been waiting to win this bet against Jaehwan for _months_.” 

“We’ve all been waiting for this to happen for forever, you’re not special.” 

“Captain, Daniel said I’m not special.” 

“How old are you, again?” 

“Me and Woojin adopted a Tamagotchi as the first order of business in our relationship.” 

“Captain, I never want you to ask me how old I am again if your personal assistant runs around doing this.” 

“Touché.” 

(Donghyun told Woojin later that the bet between Jaehwan and Sungwoon had been about whether Jihoon and him would murder each other before they managed to start dating. Woojin laughed because he would have probably bet against Sungwoon as well and because he was glad that he would have lost that bet.)

**Author's Note:**

> find me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/lilaliacs)


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